- Pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult to detect early enough to treat effectively. This means limited treatment options for many people at the point of diagnosis.
- There have been few advances in developing treatments for pancreatic cancer, but results from a trial reported at a conference have shown an overall increase in survival time.
- The trial looked at the effect of four chemotherapy drugs given in combination to pancreatic cancer patients whose cancer had spread, compared to a two-drug regimen.
Up to four out of five people with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease, contributing to its low 5-year survival rate compared to many other cancers.
The overall 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 5-10%, and of those diagnosed when cancer has already spread, stage four, the 5-year survival rate is just 1%. While improvements have been seen in survival rates for many other types of cancer, the lack of treatment options for pancreatic cancer patients means this type of cancer is predicted to become the second most frequent cause of cancer-related death by 2030.
Dr. Anton Bilchik, surgical oncologist and chief of medicine and Director of the Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Program at Providence Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA, told Medical News Today in an email:
“Pancreas cancer is one of the most chemotherapy-resistant tumors. One of the reasons is that it is typically surrounded by a thickened scar (fibrosis) which makes chemotherapy penetration difficult. Another reason is that the majority of patients with pancreas cancer present with advanced disease at a point where it has already spread.”
Few drugs are available to treat pancreatic cancer, with treatment options based on drugs designed for other types of cancer, said Prof. Andrew Biankin, Regius Chair of Surgery and Director of Translational Research Centre at the University of Glasgow, during an interview with MNT.
Prof. Biankin pointed to…
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